As of the 2022–23 school year, the district, comprising one school, had an enrollment of 291 students and 44.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 6.6:1.[1]
The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "J", the-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.[6]
In May 1974, the Harding Township School District was given permission by the State Commissioner of Education to end their sending / receiving relationship with the Morris School District at Morristown High School and begin sending their students to Madison High School starting with the 1975-76 school year, ruling that the withdrawal of the mostly white students from Harding Township would not "cause a disproportionate change in the racial composition of Morristown High School".[9][10]
School
Harding Township School serves students in grades PreK-8. The school had an enrollment of 293 students as of the 2021–22 school year.[11]
April Friedman, principal and director of curriculum[12]
Core members of the district's administration are:[12][14]
Matthew A. Spelker, superintendent
John Jennings, business administrator and board secretary
Board of education
The district's board of education is comprised of five members who set policy and oversee the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration. As a Type II school district, the board's trustees are elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with either one or two seats up for election each year held (since 2012) as part of the November general election. One board member is assigned to serve as a representative to the board of education of the Madison Public Schools. The board appoints a superintendent to oversee the district's day-to-day operations and a business administrator to supervise the business functions of the district.[15][16][17][18]
^Harding Township Board of Education District Policy - Identification, Harding Township School District. Accessed January 29, 2020. "Purpose: The Board of Education exists for the purpose of providing a thorough and efficient system of free public education in grades Pre-Kindergarten through eight in the Harding Township School District. Composition: The Harding Township School District is comprised of all the area within the municipal boundaries of Harding Township."
^"Commissioner Reverses Plan for Morris Schools", The New York Times, May 2, 1974. Accessed November 9, 2017. "Contending that it would not significantly 'cause a disproportionate change in the racial composition of Morristown High School,' the state's Acting Commissioner of Education, Edward W. Kilpatrick today allowed Harding Township to send its high school students to. Madison High School rather than to Morristown after June 1975.... In 1971, during the time the regionalization of the Morris districts was pending before the Commissioner, Harding Township, an affluent semirural town of three‐acre‐minimum residential zones, petitioned the county superintendent to allow sending of high school pupils to the smaller Madison High School with a much smaller black population. Subsequently, Harding began to send its ninth graders to Madison despite objections from Morristown."
^Staff. "Morristown High School Closed After Racial Fight", The New York Times, May 7, 1974. Accessed November 9, 2017. "Morristown High School has about 400 black students, most of them from Morristown. Most of the high school student from Morris Township, Morris Plain: and Harding Township are white. Morristown and Morris Township were forced to merge their school systems two years ago to advance racial integration. Last week Harding Township was given permission by the State Education Commissioner to withdraw its students from Morristown High and send them to Madison High."
^ abAdministration, Harding Township School District, updated July 20, 2023. Accessed January 29, 2020.
^Tsai, Martin "Meryl Streep on her Jersey food memories", The Star-Ledger, September 29, 2009. Accessed November 28, 2012. "She attended Harding Township Middle School and became Bernards High School's homecoming queen before leaving the state to attend Vassar College and Yale University."
^Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the Harding Township School District, New Jersey Department of Education, for year ending June 30, 2023. Accessed April 12, 2024. "The Board is an instrumentality of the State of New Jersey, established to function as an educational institution. The Board consists of elected officials and is responsible for the fiscal control of the District. A superintendent is appointed by the Board and is responsible for the administrative control of the District." See "Roster of Officials" on page 11.
^Master Plan Housing Element & Fair Share Plan, Harding Township, adopted November 17, 2008. Accessed January 29, 2020. "The Harding Township School system is governed by an elected Board of Education comprised of five members, one of whom also serves on the Madison Board of Education, and is administered by a full-time Superintendent. The Harding Township School, located in New Vernon Village, is comprised of an elementary and middle school (kindergarten through eighth grade) with an on-site Principal/Director of Curriculum. Secondary school education for Harding’s children is provided through an agreement with Madison High School."
^Board of Education Members, Harding Township School District, updated August 2, 2022. Accessed July 20, 2023.
